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Since I initially wrote the first Forgotten Videogame Heroes And Heroines article, several of the heroes I mentioned have returned in one form or another. Here you will find the characters that used to be on the list but have since returned (or will shortly), and what the games they returned in are.

This is the story of a barbarian who battled destiny with cold steel... and won.

Rastan was released in arcades in 1987, then was later ported to the Sega Master System. Rastan was the original video game barbarian, beating Conan to video game screens by a good two years. After the enormous success of Rastan, Taito created two sequels, Rastan Saga II and Warrior Blade, which seemed to be more of a Golden Axe-style game rather than a Castlevania-esque game like the first two were. Rastan vanished completely after Warrior Blade, and has not been seen since - until now.

Returned in: Warrior Blade (upcoming for PS2 and GameCube - selectable character)

Years passed and Ys fell into a deeper state of despair until, one day, the buried Cleria was found. For a short time, the peace and prosperity that had existed 800 years before was returned to the land. But, just as before, an Evil Force appeared. Once again, the land seemed doomed. But this time, there was one small ray of hope. This hope was a young man named Adol.

Adol is one of those characters that was relatively unknown to U.S. gamers, but was pretty huge in Japan. However, if you own a Turbografx-16 and love RPGs, then it's a safe bet you'd heard of Adol, as the Ys Book I & II set was quite popular - after all, it was hailed as one of the system's best games and was considered by many to be the first real reason to buy a Turbografx CD Player. Sega Master System owners can also claim to know Adol as well, as Ys was released for the SMS under the title Ys: The Vanished Omen - however, they knew him as Aron, as for some reason Sega changed his name when translating the game from the original Japanese. Ys III: Wanderers From Ys marked Adol's last appearance in the U.S. (it was released for the Genesis, SNES and Turbo); however, Adol appeared in four more Ys games and an anime series in Japan (on a side note, two games - despite being completely different - were designated as Ys IV. Most fans of the series feel that the PC Engine release, The Dawn Of Ys, is the true Ys IV, however). The last time Adol was seen was on a reissuing of Ys II for the Japanese Saturn... since then, he's been MIA - until now.

Returned in: - Ys VI (upcoming)

Longtime rivals Kunio & Riki team up together for the first time in order to save Riki's girlfriend from the evil force inside the Reihou Academy.

Whew. Out of all of the forgotten heroes mentioned in this article, Kunio and Riki have appeared in the most games. However, they're probably the least recognizable to U.S. and European gamers, due to the fact that many of the Kunio games never made it out of Japan, and the ones that did had their stories changed so much that there was no mention of either Kunio or Riki. However, most of the Kunio games that made it out of Japan to the NES are recognized by a lot of gamers - do the names Renegade, River City Ransom and Super Dodge Ball ring any bells? Unfortunately, after Technos Japan folded, Kunio and Riki faded into semi-obscurity. The fact that more Kunio games weren't released here didn't help any, either.

Returned in: Upcoming Kunio game for Game Boy Advance

You are Jo Musashi, the Master Ninja. Your hands and feet are lethal. With shuriken, sword, nunchaku and other weapons, you are virtually unstoppable. You're also a deep cover agent for the government... called on when the fate of nations is at stake.

One of Sega's most popular characters, Jo first appeared in the arcade game Shinobi in 1987. He went on to star in several sequels over the years, culminating in the abysmal Saturn game Shinobi Legions, which threw out the classic Shinobi look in favor of digitized graphics, a la Mortal Kombat. Since then, Sega has made no other Shinobi games, prefering to let Jo fade away into obscurity along with Alex Kidd.

Returned in: Shinobi (PS2) as an unlockable character

You are Dig Dug, an exterminator getting rid of underground monsters in the Earth's crust. To get rid of them, you bring along your trusty air pump and your wits to clear all the underground of monsters.

One of the most recognizable heroes to come out of the first era of video games, Dig Dug was a guy with a power shovel and an air pump, tunneling underground to gather vegetables. He was constantly menaced by two creatures called Pooka (a strange balloon-shaped monster with huge goggles) and Fygar (a fire-breathing dragon). The action moved above ground in Dig Dug II, where Dig Dug replaced his power shovel with a drill and set out to eliminate Pooka and Fygar, who had overrun a chain of islands. After a brief revival sometime in either '95 or '96 - Namco released a version of Dig Dug called Dig Dug Arrangement, which added new monsters, actual levels and bosses to the classic Dig Dug concept - Dig Dug vanished completely, only turning up on the various Namco Museum compilations. Those, however, were only ports of the original Dig Dug and Dig Dug Arrangement arcade games.

Returned in: Dig Dug Deeper (PC)

Two years later, on December 2633, an intruder known as Red Falcon was occupying the Gal Mosquito Archipelago and was planning the fall of mankind. Command ordered a confidential investigation of the enemy's front base. The marine post ordered two "Contra" Soldiers; Private First Class Bill Rizer and Private First Class Lance Bean.

Contra. One of the best platform/action games ever made. Until the release of Contra: Hard Corps in 1994 for the Sega Genesis, Bill and Lance were the heroes that always mopped the floor with Red Falcon's alien ass (I don't care what the SNES Contra III said - the story differs greatly from the Japanese version, which has the real story). After Contra Spirits, Bill and Lance were retired, to make way for new characters. Unfortunately, then Konami gave the franchise to Appaloosa, who proceeded to totally destroy the series with the two Contras they created for the PlayStation.

Returned in: - Contra: Shattered Soldier (PS2)

Double Dragon is the story of Billy and Jimmy Lee, twin brothers who learned to fight on the cold, tought streets of their city. Their expert knowledge of the martial arts, combined with their street-smarts, has made them both formidable fighting machines.

Billy and Jimmy Lee were the original street fighters. Double Dragon paved the way for a generation of "two players vs. the world" fighting games, which included games like Capcom's Final Fight and Sega's Streets Of Rage. After a slew of products based on Double Dragon (including a comic series, TV series and a movie), the series finally died off in the mid '90s, after one final game, confusingly called Double Dragon just like the first game in the series. That Double Dragon (and Double Dragon V) was a one-on-one fighter along the lines of Street Fighter rather than a sidescrolling beat 'em up like the original games.

Returned in: Rage Of The Dragons (Neo-Geo)

Soon the demons began to fight over these magical crests. The demon realm erupted into civil war. The land was in turmoil over the stones until finally one red demon emerged with five stones by defeating the others. This demon was known as Firebrand.

Firebrand started off life as a hero. In the game Gargoyle's Quest, he was a defender of the Ghoul Realm. That continued in Gargoyle's Quest II, but in Demon's Crest he became a power-hungry dictator. That doesn't detract from what came before, but after Demon's Crest came and went, Capcom shelved Firebrand, which is a shame - he was one of their coolest heroes. You were finally able to play as the bad guy - after all, Firebrand is one of the Destroyers, which first appeared as Sir Arthur's enemies in the G'NG series. There have been no plans for a new GQ or DC game, and there probably never will be...

Returned in: SNK Vs. Capcom: Chaos (Neo-Geo)

Evil King Drool is up to it again! This time he's kidnapped the beautiful Dragon Princess, Za, and hidden her away. The year is 10,000 B.C., and as Bonk the Caveman, it's your job to get her back. Unfortunately there are not a lot of weapons around, so you'll just have to use your head--literally!

Bonk became NEC's mascot during the early '90s, competing directly with Mario and Sonic. If any game helped keep the Turbografx alive as long as it did, it was Bonk's Adventure. Bonk proved to be so popular that Hudson Soft ended up porting the original Bonk's Adventure over to the NES and GameBoy, as well as creating two sequels on the Turbo and an sequel on the SNES. However, aside from a cameo in one of the mid-90s Bomberman games, Bonk has faded into semi-obscurity.

Returned in: PC Genjin (PS2)

The Evil Witch Doctor has kidnapped Princess Leilani from Master Higgins and taken her to Adventure Island in the South Pacific. It is your mission to help Master Higgins and save Princess Leilani, but it's not going to be easy.

There was something quite odd about the original Adventure Island. It was completely identical to the Sega Master System game Wonder Boy, except for some of the characters. After that, though, the two series diverged from each other - Wonder Boy became more of a medieval action/RPG, while Adventure Island's sequels stayed true to the roots of the original. Master Higgins traveled around the islands during the course of the rest of the games, always trying to save Leilani. However, after the last 16-bit games in the series, it seemed that Hudson decided to retire Master Higgins in favor of yet more Bomberman games...

Returned in: Takahashi-meijin no Boukenjima (PS2)

Long ago, far away in space, there existed a "Fantasy Zone" where a courageous hero called Opa-Opa fought in a valiant cause to rescue the "Fantasy Zone" from its enemies.

Fantasy Zone was originally an arcade game. Later it was ported to both the Sega Master System and the Turbografx-16. The hero of the game, Opa-Opa, was a small living spacecraft that could upgrade his weapons and engines by purchasing them from a special shop. Despite having cameos in other games and even in an anime series (Zillion), Opa-Opa has not starred in his own game since Super Fantasy Zone came out in the early '90s. At this time, Sega has no plans to revive him.

Returned in: Sega AGES 2500 Series Vol. 3: Fantasy Zone (PS2)

Far away, there was a special land. Where peaceful dragons lived peaceful lives. Until the attack. Vicious creatures seeking final extinction for the dragons. You are their last hope. You are Space Harrier.

Space Harrier first appeared in arcades in 1986, and was later ported to the Sega Master System. The hero, Space Harrier, was a blonde man in a blue and red jumpsuit that carried a large laser cannon and could defy gravity. After two console-only sequels and a few adaptations of the arcade game to some of the more powerful systems like the Saturn, Harrier was shelved by Sega. Recently Sega revived the Space Harrier concept with an arcade game called Planet Harrier, but Harrier was not one of the selectable characters. He has yet to make a reappearance in a new game.

Returned in: Sega AGES 2500 Series Vol. 4: Space Harrier (PS2)

The Golden Axe, symbol of peace and prosperity, has been stolen from the people of Yuria by the vile Death Adder. However, just as all looks hopeless, three warriors arrive to defeat Death Adder and return the Golden Axe to the people.

Golden Axe was Sega's initial Double Dragon-style fighting game. However, instead of taking place in an inner city slum somewhere, it took place in a medieval kingdom, and although you could occasionally kick enemies, for the most part you used weapons and even attack creatures at different points in the game. Golden Axe also let you choose between three different characters - Ax Battler the barbarian, Tyris Flare the Amazon and Gilius Thunderhead the dwarf. As time went on, various sequels to Golden Axe appeared, but by the time Golden Axe: The Duel appeared for the Sega Saturn, the original three warriors were gone. They have yet to reappear.

Returned in: Sega AGES 2500 Series Vol. 5: Golden Axe (PS2)

Amid this turmoil, a group of determined young police officers has sworn to clean up the city. Among them are Adam Hunter, Axel Stone and Blaze Fielding. They are willing to risk anything... even their lives... on the... STREETS OF RAGE

When Capcom debuted the home version of the immensely popular arcade game Final Fight with the release of the Super NES in 1991, Sega knew they had to do something. What they did was create Streets Of Rage, which became hailed as one of the best fighting games of all time - even surpassing Final Fight in a lot of respects. Axel and Blaze returned a year later in Streets Of Rage 2 (so did Adam, but not until the very end of the game), along with Adam's brother Skate and Max the wrestler. Streets Of Rage 3 saw the return of Axel, Blaze and Skate, but Adam and Max were nowhere to be found. Instead, a old man/cyborg, Dr. Zan, joined them. After that, Sega decided against continuing the series. Rumors of Streets Of Rage 4/Bare Knuckle IV have been flying ever since then, but nothing has surfaced.

Returned in: Sega AGES 2500 Series Vol. ?: Streets Of Rage (PS2)